The bodies of at least eight people have been recovered from a grave found at the home of a former police officer in El Salvador, officials say.
The graves may hold more bodies, most of them thought to be women or girls.
Exhuming all the bodies could take another month. Police believe the discovery reveals a secret murder ring operating over a decade.
El Salvador has one of Latin America's highest rates for femicide, the murder of a woman or girl because of her sex.
Hugo Ernesto Osorio Chávez, 51, was detained in town of Chalchuapa this month for killing a 57-year-old woman and her 26-year-old daughter. The former officer, who had previously been investigated for sex crimes, confessed to killing the pair.
But when forensic teams searched his house about 48 miles (78km) north of the capital, San Salvador, they found at least seven pits containing bodies, some of which may have been buried as long as two years ago.
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